QUALITIES OP TIMOTHY. 35 



half ago, and began to cultivate it. In Pennsylvania, and 

 states farther south, this name is applied to Agrostis 

 vulgaris, or the redtop of New England. 



Sinclair states, as the result of the experiments, about 

 thirty years ago, at Woburn Abbey, under the auspices 

 of the Duke of Bedford, and with the assistance of Sir 

 Humphrey Davy, that the crop when ripe exceeds in 

 nutritive value the crop at the time of flowering. This 

 conclusion is sustained by the more recent investigations 

 of Prof. Way, whose elaborate analyses of the grasses 

 will be found on a subsequent page. This might be 

 inferred from the size and weight of the mealy seeds 

 when the grass is ripe, as many as thirty bushels of which 

 having been known to be produced on a single acre. 



As a crop to cut for hay it is probably unsurpassed 

 by any other grass now cultivated. Though somewhat 

 coarse and hard, especially if allowed to ripen its 

 seed, yet if cut in the blossom, or directly after, it is 

 greatly relished by all kinds of stock, and especially so 

 by horses, while it possesses a large percentage of 

 nutritive matter in comparison with other agricultural 

 grasses. It is often sown with clover, but the best 

 practical farmers are beginning to discontinue this cus- 

 tom, on account of the different times of blossoming of 

 the two crops. Timothy being invariably later than 

 clover, the former must often be cut too green, before 

 blossoming, when the loss is great by shrinkage, and 

 when the nutritive matter is considerably less than at a 

 little later period ; or, the clover must stand too long, 

 when there is an equally serious loss of nutritious mat- 

 ter and of palatable qualities in that. 



Timothy thrives best on moist, peaty or loamy soils, 

 of medium tenacity, and is not suited to sandy or light 

 gravelly lands; for though on such soils, by great care, 

 it can be made to grow and produce fair crops, some 



